How to Teach Organizational Communication to a Class
Organizational communication is part of the communication discipline. Instead of studying journalism or interpersonal relationships, however, these scholars look at the ways in which an organization communicates both within itself and with the world around it. As part of the discipline, scholars have developed a number of theories that help students and others analyze the organizational communication processes and the meanings that these processes create.
Instructions
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Teach the basics of communication during the first two or three weeks of class. Briefly discuss the two approaches to communication: linear and constitutive. The linear model says that one person sends a message to another, much like an e-mail, and the other person understands the meaning. The constitutive model says that meaning is created in the relationship and not sent from one person to another.
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Overview the basics of oganizational communication theory. This includes surveying both the "a priori" and "local" theories. For example, you might spend a week discussing critical theory, which is an a priori theory because it relies on already created and grounded theories to discover meaning. You might also spend a week on post-modern theory, which is a local theory because it looks for how meaning arises in the organization instead of trying to find meaning that already existed.
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3
Assign a paper to each of the students. The paper should require the students to analyze an organization or part of an organization through one or more of the communication theories surveyed during the course.
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